Assembly: Hungary has a unicameral National Assembly (Országgyűlés) with 199 seats.[1]

Description of electoral system:

In the National Assembly (Országgyűlés), 106 members are elected in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 93 members are elected through a national-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.[2] The new electoral list also allows national minority lists to participate in elections for the first time.

Last election:

The last election to the National Assembly was held on April 11 and 25, 2010. The joint list of the Hungarian Civic Union / Fidesz and the Christian Democratic Party /KDNP received a total of 3,326,524 votes (52.73%) and won 263 seats, the Hungarian Socialist Party / Magyar Szocialista Párt (MSZP) received 1,316,789 (19.30%) and won 59 seats, the Movement for a Better Hungary / Jobbik received 996,851 votes (16.67%) and won 47 seats, and Politics Can Be Different / Lehet Más a Politika received 427,313 votes (7.48%) and won 16 seats. Fidesz and its ally, the Christian Democratic People’s Party / Kereszténydemokrata Néppárt (KNDP) won a majority of seats in the first round, and gained a two-thirds majority in the second-round (enough to modify major laws and the constitution). This election was seen as a major achievement for Hungary’s right-wing parties: compared to the previous year, center-right Fidesz gained 99 seats, far-right Jobbik gained 47 seats, and the center-left Hungarian Socialist Party lost 131 seats.

[1] A new electoral law passed on December 23, 2011 reduced the number of seats in the National Assembly from 386 to 199. This will be the first election in which only 199 seats are filled.

[2] Every voter with a registered address in Hungary may cast two votes: one for a candidate in the voter’s single-member district and one for a national list (party list or ethnic minority list). As per the electoral law passed in 2011, single-member district elections will now take place in only one round and will be determined by first-past-the-post plurality vote. The previous turnout requirements have been abolished. Votes for party lists contribute to the election of members by proportional representation. The threshold in this tier is 5 percent nationwide (10 percent for two-party lists and 15 percent for lists with 3 or more parties). Votes for non-winning candidates are added to that candidate’s party list’s votes, as are all votes for winning candidates which exceed the number needed to win that constituency. Proportional representation seats are then allocated using the d’Hondt formula. Armenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek, Polish, Romani, Romanian, Ruthen, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, and Ukrainian minorities are eligible to create a minority list. Minority lists need only 5% of all minority list votes to win a seat. These seats are subtracted from the 93 party list seats before those seats are allocated. Minority communities that do not reach this threshold are given representation in the form of a non-voting “minority spokesman,” who is by default the first member of that community’s minority list.

[3] The following parties and alliances are the 18 national lists registered as of March 8, 2014.

[4] The Alliance will be listed on the ballot as MSZP-EGYÜTT-DK-PM-MLP. Prior to March 6, 2014, the campaign for the alliance was known as Unity / Öszefogás; however, on March 6, 2014 the name was changed to Government Change / Kormányváltás.

[13] Only Hungarians abroad are required to register to vote. This is the first election that Hungarians without a permanent residence in Hungary are able to vote. In January 2013, the Constitutional Court struck down an electoral law that would have introduced mandatory voter registration for voters in Hungary. Over 8 million residents of Hungary are eligible to vote.